I paired this beer with: Steamed tilapia with a spicy lemon marinade.Great Pairing!!!

Tasted on: Wednesday March 16th, 2011

Note: This was bottled on October 3, 2008.

The beer poured a hazy light orange with a small fluffy white head and many tiny bubbles like you would see in a glass of champagne. The nose was funky and barnyard like, with hints of lemon zest. The taste hits you first with some funk and mildly tart on the acidic side, and then I picked up some lemon and green apples, and end up very dry. The mouthfeel was of a light to medium body and a very nice level of carbonation to tickle the tongue. The drinkability was fabulous and like the label says is a Classic Gueuze which I can drink all day.

On the Label:

A blend of one, two, and three year-old lambics, refermented in the bottle. Store and serve at cellar temperature (50-55 F/10-13 C). Do not serve cold! Pour gently (leaving behind the yeast sediment) into a wine glass or traditional Belgian tumbler.

From their Website:

Gueuze 100% Lambic

In the 18th century, a Benedictine monk, dom Pérignon, discovers the champaign method by blending different non sparkling white wines. One century later, a Brabant brewer blends different lambics and brings about a spontaneous fermentation in the bottle. The Gueuze is born.

Up to the 19th century, the people from Brussels and Brabant mostly drank two beers, Lambic and Faro. The glass bottle and the discovery of Dom Perignon will bring about a revolution in the small world of the Brussels brewers. The Gueuze became the icon of the Brussels beers.

Lambic, which is the base for the making of Gueuze, is a spontaneous fermentation beer. All beers made with Lambic are naturally sour, but some will be more sour, more bitter or “softer” than the others.

The Gueuze is the result of a well-considered blending of Lambics of different ages and with different tastes.

The Lambic beers from the Cantillon brewery, which are conserved in oakwood barrels, are called “young” after one year, but they will reach their full maturity after three years. The young beers contain the sugars which are necessary for the second fermentation in the bottle. The three years old beers will contribute their taste and their flavour.

The main task for the brewer, however, is tasting. He will taste about ten Lambics from different barrels in order to select five or six which will be used for the Gueuze 100% Lambic presenting the typical characteristics of the beers from the Cantillon brewery.

The bottles are closed with a cork, capped with a crown-cork. They will remain horizontally in a cellar for a year on average, in order to allow the sugars to be converted into carbon dioxide (second fermentation in the bottle). The saturation of the beer is slow and natural. When the Lambic becomes sparkling, it is called Gueuze. At that moment, this crown-jewel of the Cantillon brewery will leave the cellar of the brewery and find its way to the cellars of the lovers of the traditional Gueuze.

Every blending will produce a different Gueuze. Since we work according to a natural process, it is impossible to make a standard beer.

This beer is not only unique because of its brewing process, but also because it can be conserved for a long time. When kept in a good cellar, a Cantillon Gueuze will still have an exceptional taste and flavour after 20 years.

The Gueuze 100% Lambic Cantillon represents half of the production of the brewery.

The Gueuze 100% Lambic is available in 37,5 cl (1/2) or 75 cl (1/1) bottles.

This beer was much more sweet, then tart. I’ve had the opportunity to taste Goudenband on many occasions and it is usually a mildly tart and refreshing beer. This 2003 version was good, but not at all tart.

It was very interesting to try the “regular” Rodenbach, the 2010 & the 2003 Rodenbach Grand Cru side by side. In terms of tartness I would have to say that Rodenbach was mildly tart, the 2010 Grand Cru was about 2x’s tarter & the 2003 kicked up the tartness factor to a very enjoyable puckering level as it was about 4x more tart then the 2010 Grand Cru.

This one interesting Geuze as it was a bend of 8 different Lambics from 8 different breweries. I feel that as good & enjoyable as this Geuze was, the Geuze you could try from some of those individual breweries would have been better.

Our Belgium Private Canal Beercation starts in 70 Days!

As we explore Bruges, Gent, Antwerp, Mechelen and Brussels we will be visiting the following: In de Vrede (Westvletern); De Dolle Brouwers; Gruut; Bosteels; Malheur; Cafe Trappisten (Westmalle); Duvel and Cantillon Brewery as well as many other sites.

Below are excerpts from Bon Beer Voyage’s August Newsletter which features Cantillon Brewery. Enjoy and we hope to see you in the future on a Bon Beer Voyage.

Tours for Belgian and Craft Beer Enthusiasts

August 2010 Newsletter

888-U-Go-Beer (888-846-2337)

Greetings!

Things are really brewing here at BBV! We’ve set a date for our Tampa 2011 trip, done some fine tuning on the Belgium trip, set up a tentative itinerary for Italy and are soon heading out to preview our Ireland trip!

Are you getting the latest info on our trips and other great beer news? Become a fan on Facebook, and don’t forget to check out our this blog, our website and newsletters for up to date trip info and specials!

This month’s newsletter features another of the unique breweries that we will be visiting on our Belgium trip- Cantillon Brewery in Brussels, world famous for their Gueuze.

We hope you enjoy this months newsletter.

Cheers!

Ruth & Mike

Brewery Insider

Previews of Breweries We Visit on our Bon Beer Voyage Tours

Cantillon Brewery, Brussels, Belgium

This month we take a closer look at a very unique brewery that is sure to be one of the highlights of our Belgian Beercation, the Cantillon Brewery, located in Brussels, Belgium. Cantillon was founded in 1900 by the Van Roy-Cantillon family.

The building, which dates back to 1874 was previously a warehouse. In 1900 Paul Cantillon, the son of a brewer, opened the facility as a Gueuze blending facility. It did not begin brewing its own concoctions until the end of 1937. Master Brewer Jean-Pierre Van Roy took over the Cantillon family brewery when his father-in-law gave him an ultimatum. Cantillon told Van Roy that that if he didn’t take it over, he would close. Jean-Pierre obviously rose to the occasion. Today, with Jean Van Roy (son of Jean-Pierre) as the brewer,Cantillon is one of only two lambic breweries still in operation that produces nothing but authentic, unsweetened, ufiltered, unpasteurized lambic and is currently the only active brewery in Brussels which is open to the public.

The brewery produces Gueuze (now close your eyes real quick and tell me how to spell that again?), Lambic, Faro and Kriek in the same tradition that it has for over 100 years.

Lambic is a beer which is spontaneously fermented. This means that instead of having yeast added to it, it takes advantage of the wild yeast in the air. The particular area in Belgium in which Cantillon is located is very well known for its particular strains of wild yeast. The building has numerous small holes in it, allowing the yeast to enter.

When visiting, in my opinion the coolest part(no pun intended) is the cooling tun in the attic. This is a huge open topped copper pan where the wort is not only cooled, but gains all the natural yeasts that are floating around in the air; it’s kind of like when we used to do those experiments in science class with petri dishes!

The cooled wort is then put in old oak or chestnut barrels where it ferments for 1-3 years before it is blended, then rebottled immediately so the second fermentation can take place creating the gueuze. Alteratively, fruit is added to create Kriek(cherries) or Framboise(raspberries) as well as a unique grape lambic.

For the most part, Gueuze is made up of a blend of lambics of different ages. Cantillon mixes theirs fom their own lambics, while some other breweries wil mix lambics from varying breweries.

Kriek is made from the Schaarbeek variety of cherries steeped in lambic, pits and all. It dissoves and ferments for 4-5 months during which time the pits dissolve as well, imparting some nuttiness to the flavor along with the cherry. The Framboise is lambic steeped with raspberries (as well as a small amount of cherries). The Framboise only takes about 3 months to be ready to go.

The brewery appears as old as it really is! There are, of course, dust and cobwebs; this is because the building purposely has the holes in it to welcome the wild yeast that makes their mouth watering products possible. They have not changed much over the years, since they feel that this helps to ensure the authenticity and quality of their beer.

Interestingly enough, 68% of Cantillon’s beer is currently exported. It seems America and Japan are keeping them in business! Apparantly the trend toward a taste for sweeter beverages, such as Coca Cola, has left the sour gueuze unpopular locally. Fortunately for us, there remains and continues to grow a sour loving, specialty seeking, beer enthusiast contingent who for now, help Cantillon remain viable and a must see mecca for people like us!

As one web reviewer so eloquently commented: “It is the center of the gueuze universe”! We agree- and are looking forward to sharing this historic brewery with all of you that are joining us in October!

Have you reserved your space yet?

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Don’t Miss The Opportunity to…

Try These and Endless Other Great Beers!

See These Awesome Sights!

Experience These Unique Bathrooms 🙂

Enjoy…Unique regional brews in some of the most historic and best beer-stocked pubs.

Experience…the historical and fascinating cities, including Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent & Brussels with guided tours as well as free time to explore on your own.

Visit…Beer Lovers Meccas, such as Westvleteren, Westmalle and Cantillon!

Savor…Cuisine a la biere! (That’s the fancy french term for food cooked in beer!)

Relax…it’s your vacation! No driving! No figuring out where to eat or how to get from one place to the next! Unpack only once on our incredibly comfortable private passenger barge and get ready for the beercation of a lifetime!

Beer Safari News

Great News! We’re heading back to Tampa for More Tours, Tastings and Fun!

More Great News – We’ve scheduled this year’s

Tampa Beer Safari Weekend over

President’s Day Weekend!

February 18-20, 2011,

This could be a really nice Valentine’s giftto give the beer lover in your life! ! And if you have the time to make it a real holiday weekend, we can even help you arrange for additional nights before or after the tour at the hotel at special BBV rates. Details coming soon…watch your emails and our Facebook page for up to the date info and be the first to register – space will be limited!

This is the 4thinstallment of our Beery Adventures in Belgium. We visited Bruges, Gent, Mechelen, Antwerp & Brussels over 7 days, meeting with vendors for our beer travel company,BonBeerVoyage.com. During our whirlwind week, we were able to visit over 50 beer related places and tasted over 50 different beers.

With Bruges behind us, we are now going to focus on Gent. During our 2 nights and 1 day in Gent we visited 9 bars, discovered a new brewery and tasted 13 different beers.

De Dulle Griet at night

De Dulle Griet bar

Our 1st visit was to De Dulle Griet (50 Vrijdagmarkt). De Dulle Griet is a cool, quirky bar which you will find on the square called Friday Market (Vrijdagmarkt in Dutch). The bar is named after a very famous medieval supergun from Gent. You can see this large red canon on display just outside the Friday Market on the canal front. Dulle Griet has over 250 beers to choose from, including their famous “The Max” which is Kwak from Brouwerij Bosteelspoured into a Kwak Yard Glass.

As you may know, these glasses are not cheap, so in order to deter sticky fingered visitors from making them into souvenirs, patrons ordering “The Max” must take off one of their shoes as collateral. The shoes is then put into a basket and hoisted to the ceiling by a pulley system. When the glass is returned, so is the shoe! This bar can get crowded, so as a courtesy to your fellow imbibers, if you plan to have a Kwak, wear your odor eaters, please!

Malheur 12 at De Dulle Griet

Ruth starts off her night with a Rochefort 10

After searching the packed pub both upstairs and down and not finding a seat in the house, Ruth & I were fortunate enough to be invited by another couple, on a holiday from Holland, to share the next available table. I started my night off with a Malheur 12, which is a Quadruple and 12% abv from Brouwerij De Landtsheer NV . Ruth started with a Rochefort 10, also a Quadruple at 11.3% abv from Brasserie de Rochefort (Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy). After we finished our Quadruples, we said goodbye to our new Dutch friends and left to check out one more pub before heading off to dinner.

Den Trollekelder

As we walked to Café Den Trollekelder (17 Bij Sint-Jacobs) we heard what sounded like a jazz band practicing nearby. So as I went to check out Den Trollekelder, Ruth went to track down where the great music was coming from.

Den Trollekelder's troll window

Den Trollekelder's troll window

The 1st thing I saw upon approaching Den Trollekelder were all the trolls in the window. The 2nd thing I noticed was the beer list hanging in the window, at a quick glance it appeared they had about 150 beers. Great list, now to find a seat. As I entered I noticed how empty the place looked. I walked through the 2 levels and the only person I saw was the bartender. I thought this was strange, given the fact of how crowded Dulle Griet had been and how good the beer menu looked. I headed back out the door to find Ruth who hadn’t appeared in this troll den yet.

Trefpunt

I saw her standing next door in front of Trefpunt (18 Bij Sint-Jacobs) talking to an elder man with a small plaid shopping cart. The stranger my wife was chatting it up with was Coen, a local artist and poet. He apparently carries all his poetry in that shopping cart. He confirmed that the jazz band we heard would be playing shortly in Trefpunt, which is a music and theater café. We went in & found a couple of seats at the bar near the stage. They have a small beer list of 6 beers on tap and 18 bottled. We both managed to find a something to our liking.

Mike & Ruth toast with an Orval & Rochefort 8 in Trefpunt

Ruth stayed with Rochefort and this time ordered a Rochefort 8, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale, 9.2% abv from Brasserie de Rochefort. I matched her Trappist with an Orval, a Belgian Pale Ale. It is 6.90% abv and brewed by Brasserie d’Orval S.A.

Coen and Ruth got into a conversation about everything from the French Poetry to Bob Dylan. This was followed by her attempt at interpreting his Flemish reading of one of his poems, (the Rocheforts obviously somehow endowed her with translating superpowers). By the time the band started to play we were starving so after the first set we headed out in search of dinner.

Aba Jour

Board welcoming you into Aba Jour

We went to the beer enthusiasts’ restaurant Aba-Jour(20 Oudburg) which serves Italian & Belgian fair. Aba-Jour had 6 beers on tap, 55 bottled plus 10 specials on their menu board including Vin de Céréale and Stille Nacht 2003.

Rochefort 6 in Aba Jour

While we waited to be seated for dinner, we sat at the bar and Ruth went for a Rochefort trifecta and ordered the Rochefort 6, which is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 7.5% Abv from Brasserie de Rochefort. I went with Drie Founteine Oude Geuze, a 6.0% abv which is a Gueuze from Brouwerij Drie Fonteinen.

Cantillon's Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio in Aba Jour

With my spaghetti dinner I stayed in the Gueuze family and ordered Gueuze 100% Lambic Bio, a 5.0% Gueuze from Brasserie Cantillon.

Ruth holding a haiku by Coen

Above is a Haiku, written that evening for us by Coen (Coenraed de Waele ) with one of the 7 or so pens he had in his jacket pocket for such occasions. (For those of you not familiar with Haiku, it is a Japanese form of poetry written in 3 lines, the 1st line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables and the 3rd line has 5 syllables.) This is what it says.

Hear close harmony.

Some Americans in town.

My mind runs open.

By Coenraed de Waele

The next morning and early afternoon we spent touring around Gent. During our rounds we came across 2 beer bars, which were unfortunately closed at that time of the day.

Het Verdronken Land

The 1st one was Het Verdronken Land (57 Steendam) which is a tapasbar. They have about 50 beers on their list and is only a short walk N.E. from Den Trollekelder.

Delirium Café

Delirium Café entrance

The 2nd beer bar which was closed was Delirium Café , (2 Klein Turkije). The Delirium’s entrance would lead you to their basement bar. This is the sister bar of the famous Delirium Café in Brussels, but is has nowhere near the 2000 beers you will find in Brussels. It does, however, have an impressive 150 beers on its menu.

While we walked thru the Christmas Market we came upon a booth promoting a new brewery in town named Gruut. We had a sample of their Belgian Amber Ale which is, as the name says an Amber Ale at 6.6% abv. We found the beer, the way it was made and the beer glass all very interesting, so we inquired about the Brewery. Once we found out it was about a half mile away, we headed off to see…

Gruut Gentse Stadsbrouwerij

Entrance to Gruut

Gruut Gentse Stadsbrouwerij(10 Grote Huidevettershoek) is a Hop-less brewery. The head brewer a female. They currently make 4 beers, a Wit Beer 5%abv; a Blond 5.5% abv; an Amber Ale 6.6% abv and a Bruin 8% which at the time was in production but not bottled yet.

Gruut's Amber, Blond & Wit bottles

Gruut is the name of a medieval mixture of spices and herbs used to make beer instead of using hops. Gruut was also the name of the local currency in the middle ages which was used to pay the taxes on the amount of Gruut used.

Gruut

Gruut

Here at Gruut they use modern equipment and brewing techniques in the old-fashioned tradition.

The bar/brewery/tasting room is very modern and nice. And it’s worth the visit just to see the restrooms…

Gruut's Mens room

Gruut's Blond & Wit with some snacks

With a snack of hard cheese and salami, Ruth enjoyed the Belgium Wit Beer and while I had their Belgium Blond.

‘t Gouden Mandeke entrance

A peek inside Gouden Mandeke

The walk back into town from Gruut made us thirsty so we stopped off at ‘t Gouden Mandeke (9 Pensmarkt) for a beer. This was a quaint bar with baskets hanging along the beams of the ceiling. They were very crowded and there was no place to sit, not even at the bar. A quick peek at the beer menu revealed that they had about 50 beers, a good selection, but nothing we couldn’t find elsewhere in town. With a thought of a later return visit, we headed off to find a place where we could sit and enjoy a beer.

‘t Galgenhuisje

We walked to the end of the block to ‘t Galgenhuisje (5 Groentenmarkt). This is the smallest bar in Gent. The location was where they used to hang people, hence its name “the Gallows House”. They had 4 beers on tap and 14 bottled beers. They made up for the small beer list with a great atmosphere. Amazingly enough, a couple was leaving as we arrived so we were able to grab one of the few tables that fit into this doll house sized pub.

I had the Gentse Tripel, which is an 8.0% abv Tripel from the Brouwerij Van Steenberge N.V. Ruth drank a Westmalle triple, which is a 9.50% abv Tripel from Brouwerij Westmalle (Adbij der Trappisten van Westmalle). We meet a great couple sitting at the table next to us. After a while of chatting across our tables, we invited them to join us at our table, which made for an easier conversation. And opened up a table for another group!

‘t Galgenhuisje with our new friends

She is a native of Gent and he is also a native from Gent, but he now lives in Canada a few months out of the year. We enjoyed their company so much that after we finished our drinks here the four of us walked across the street to…

Het Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant

Het Waterhuis Aan De Bierkant (9 Groentenmarkt). Waterhuis is wonderful bar, if the weather is nice you can grab some grub and a beer outside while enjoying the canal view and people watching. Inside it is a two story bar with a casual atmosphere. They have an excellent beer menu; that night they had 16 beers on tap and over 150 bottled.

I drank a Oud Beersel Oude Gueze Vieille , a 6% abv Gueuze which is brewed by Brouwerij Oud Beersel, Ruth had the N’ice Chouffe, which is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale at 10% abv. This is a Christmas beer made from by the Brasserie d’Achouffewhich was van ‘t vat (from the tap).

Oud Beersel Oude Gueze Vieille

N’ice Chouffe

Waterhuis cheers with friends

Our new friends and drinking companions treated us to a round. We look forward to sharing a few with them when we return to Gent during our Belgium Beer Barge Tour in October!

It was then off to dinner after consulting with the locals. We ate at a restaurant called Coeur d’Artichaut (6 Onderbergen). It had a kind of modern sparse décor, high ceilings, black and white. Great atmosphere, great food, great end to a great day! All while having the proper glassware for my Duvel too!